9/23/09

One of my favorite pasta dishes of all. I've seen this made several ways in food blogger-land and in restaurants, and I even have my own take on it. I use a basic recipe from mario batali at babbo. Mario has some of the most perfect Italian dishes ever; yes I know he's Italian, but he truly has the perfect touch on Italian cuisine. Have you ever been to babbo in nyc? You must go, if you are an avid Italian-foodie. They have this dish called " sweet potato lune with sage and amaretti" that is, the oh, how do I describe it in words for you? Heaven, heavenly, perfect pairing of pasta, sweet potato and a touch of amaretti? And before I forget, this is important, mario batali has the best basic tomato sauce I've ever come across. I make it all the time when I want a fresh tasting tomato sauce. That same sauce is used in this recipe and is a perfect sauce for making large batches and freezing and/or canning; you can use it on almost all of your Italian red sauce recipes. Something about his tomato sauce is just right: the right balance in acidity with sweet. Try it sometime, I think you might grow to like it as I have done over the decade, plus it's very easy for anyone just starting out in cooking Italian cuisine.

What I do to this recipe, which can be found here, I add chopped roasted red peppers to this right after I sauteed the red onions. I've always like the extra taste of the roasted peppers. If you can find guanciale please use it; if not then pancetta will do. Please note my changes.

Being 6 quarts of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons of salt.
Place the guanciale slices in a 12- to 14-inch sauté pan in a single layer and cook over medium-low heat until most of the fat has been rendered from the meat, turning occasionally.
Remove the meat to a plate lined with paper towels and discard half the fat (I never discard the fat, only a 1/4 of it; you need some of the fat for flavor), leaving enough to coat the garlic, onion and red pepper flakes.
Return the guanciale to the pan with the vegetables, and cook over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, or until the onions, garlic and guanciale are light golden brown. Season with salt and pepper, add the tomato sauce, reduce the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Cook the bucatini in the boiling water according to the package directions, until al dente. Drain the pasta and add it to the simmering sauce. Add the parsley leaves, increase the heat to high and toss to coat. Divide the pasta among four warmed pasta bowls. Top with freshly grated Pecorino cheese and serve immediately.

In a 3-quart saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook until soft and light golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the thyme and carrot, and cook 5 minutes more, until the carrot is quite soft. Add the tomatoes and juice and bring to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes until as thick as hot cereal. Season with salt and serve. This sauce holds 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer. Should make 4 cups.

If someone will sponsor two peeps to fly to NY right now, we will go and come back with our pov on the sweet potato sage pasta. :) Know anyone? Anything pasta feels good. Looks like Batali knows what he's doing. Of course.

I love this pasta too!Your version looks delicious! I've never been to Babbo because I thought that his menu was sort of out there. Not traditional Italian. I'm sure it's great if you eat all that stuff. I'm not so brave! lol

Looks like I need to break out those Batali cookbooks again and take another look. Your photo is perfection and does a beautiful job of showing just how delicious this dish is with the hearty sauce. Beautiful job, my friend.

This looks really perfect Dawn! It has been ages since I have been able to find bucatini!

I love Mario's food (Yea, I can call him Mario) and his shows because he really shows you that Italian food is so regional and so varied. What we recognize here in the states as "Italian Food" is SO limited. Half the stuff we make here, people from Italy have never even heard of (like my in-laws). My brother in law when he was visiting took pictures of all the "Italian" food he had here because it was amusing to him.

I have never been to Babbo, but I really wanna go - I hear the desserts by Gina De Palma are also excellent! Her cookbook is fantastic! You need it.

This is just fantastic! Thank you for including Chef Batali's tomato sauce: I must admit to still using sauce from a jar (albeit organic & all-natural) but I'd love to start making my own, especially when it's this simple and comes with your recommendation! Now, about that 'sweet potato lune' . . .

about vanilla sugar blog

Unique eats, creative recipes, as simple as possible.What drives me to create? Seeing dishes in restaurants, meals created on TV, recipes in cookbooks/online, and I always think to myself why didn’t they add this or why did they leave out that? Love to question, love to research, and love to learn about combining different flavors and textures in recipes.Recipe creations please email: vanillasugarblog@aol.com